Retener et Liberare
by Gabriela Romero
Summary: Exactly what happened to Riku after he was spirited away from Destiny Islands? How was his relationship with Maleficent? And what kind of events and people led him to what he is today? What you didn't see in the game.
1. Welcome to Hollow Bastion

**Disclaimer:** I **do not** own Kingdom Hearts.

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**A/N**: Hi guys! Here I finally bring you my newest project, Retener et Liberare, and I'm hoping you guys will enjoy it. As I upload the chapters they should already be revised (so you can enjoy it to its fullest) by me and my beta, Obsidian, who by the way I should thank for bothering doing this (I know of his temper XD). I will also try to add a quote at the end of every chapter and a little "The Making of Retener et Liberare" at the end of the chapter, too. R&R.

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Welcome to Hollow Bastion.

The soft splashing of water wakened his sleepy senses. The surface under his hands felt rugged and cold; this brought a spark of curiosity from within the teen. He blinked, closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, and blinked again. Once his dizziness was gone he started to stand up, and soon realized his body was weaker than what he thought it would be. He looked around and found himself in the middle of a floating platform, surrounding him were several other platforms, floating just like the one he was standing on, and water was all around the place—streams, ponds, a waterfall—he had no idea of what was going on, and a burning need within him wished he knew.

"Where—where am I?" He asked to no one in particular.

With his heart beating hard against his chest, Riku's memories flooded back to him, and he remembered, with a grim feeling of satisfaction, that he had allowed the darkness to suck him out of Destiny Islands, to the world he was now standing in.

He summoned his strength, and with a powerful leap he jumped to a higher platform. He did the same for a second time, but this time his legs buckled weakly and he fell to his knees—right, he still was recovering from the harsh condition the darkness had brought him here, he was still weak. The silver-head breathed heavily, summoned his strength again and prepared himself for another leap. When he landed in the third platform he felt worse than before and collapsed on the cold floor.

"There's no need to push yourself so much," a voice said above him.

Riku waited a moment, then he looked up, and his sight trailed up to meet a tall, robed woman with inhuman features. She was amused at his meek appearance. He sat up and tried to ignore her, for he thought that she was mocking him.

"Need help?" She said, extending a long, pointed hand at him, but withdrew when Riku ignored it.

The silver-haired teen stud up and, now that both were standing, he didn't feel as much at her mercy, so his dislike toward her diminished. "Where am I?"

"Why, you're in Hollow Bastion, of course," said she, a wicked smile lingered on her lips. "My name is Maleficent, and I think I may be able to help you."

Riku eyed the woman with suspicion, but he decided to agree with her, after all he knew no one in this place called Hollow Bastion. He dusted his clothes off, and said coolly "I was just a bit tired from my long journey here, that's all."

"Of course you are," she was still amused at him. Then she pounded the floor with her staff, and the same darkness that took him away from Destiny Islands appeared in the platform, behind her. "Come then," said Maleficent, as she stepped into the darkness.

The moment he saw how she so easily controlled the darkness he felt genuinely fascinated and decided follow her, so he could later learn of that darkness. His pulse quickened as he followed her into the dark abyss. When he crossed it he realized it wasn't an abyss after all, it transported him to the inside of a marvelous building. The hall was poorly illuminated, but its rich appearance never faltered. Riku's gaze was fixated on the tall water fountain that adorned the lower part of the hall; he had the inkling sensation that this was just a small part of a bigger place.

Maleficent turned to him and was satisfied to see his admiring expression. "Welcome to my castle… ahh—"

"Riku." He answered, knowing that she was asking for his name.

"Riku, welcome to my castle," she repeated. She eyed him for a second, "Will you be staying here?"

The teen thought for a moment, and finally, shrugged; he had no place else to stay.

"Splendid!" She said with that wicked look in her eyes. "Let's get you a room then."

Hollow Bastion Castle—as she would name it—was just as big as Riku imagined it would be. While he trotted behind Maleficent through the various corridors and passages he wondered how he was going to memorize his way to his new bedroom. He also wondered if it was wise to trust this woman, whose appearance was anything but pure. But the great satisfaction and pride in himself for finally being outside of his tiny hometown made him forget all the important questions that should be answered, for now he just wanted to savor his moment of victory. He even got more than what he bargained for; he could stay in this humongous castle.

So lost in his thoughts was he that he almost bumped into the tall woman when she stopped. Riku felt embarrassed under her questioning look and was almost grateful when her wicked smile returned and she began to talk. "Have a look inside, Riku, for this shall be your bedroom from now on." Riku carefully opened the heavy door and smirked at the room before him. "Return to the Entrance Hall when you're ready."

"Ready for what?" Asked the silver-head as he stepped into the room.

"Ready for what I have for you." And without a second glance she turned on her heel, and disappeared to the darkness of the hallway.

Riku smiled sheepishly at himself, he would return to the Entrance Hall if he actually ever found his way back to it. Turning around he closed the door and allowed the coldness of the room to engulf him. He made his way to a tall table and took the matches (that had been conveniently put there) and lit the several candles in the room. After he was done a sinister green glow filled the room and he silently wondered if he would ever find peace and sanctuary (like most people did) in his new bedroom with the cold and vacant feeling it emitted.

He sat on the four-poster bed and now that his thoughts were at peace he began to remember what had happened when he departed from Destiny Islands. He remembered how eager Sora was to reach him—just like always—and he wondered where Sora was. Was he still in the islands? Living a normal life along with Kairi? Were those two OK? And without realizing it his body began relaxing in the comfort of the bed and he laid down and soon his thoughts faded, he closed his eyes and allowed his mind to slip away to the blissfulness of sleep.

--

A light pounding on the door began to wake him, and he sat up abruptly as the pounding got louder and sharper. He stud up and raced to the door, opening it. He felt stupid as he gazed at the emptiness of the hallway—that was strange. Then, suddenly, his feeling of stupidity turned to embarrassment as someone coughed under him. He looked down and met with the impatient gaze of a short boy with dark, messy hair. Riku stepped back and gave the kid an apologetic smile.

The boy glared at him and said "Maleficent wants to know if you're ready."

Riku sighed remembering what she told him, and was grateful that she had sent someone for him—he just wasn't in the mood to get lost trying to find his way around. He finally nodded.

"Follow me then," said the boy with the same tone of impatience.

After a while Riku couldn't withstand his curiosity anymore, so he asked "So, who are you?"

The boy gave him a side glance, "I'm just like you."

The teen raised a perfectly arched eyebrow, but the boy decided to ignore him—thing that really annoyed Riku. Aside from that they walked in silence and they arrived faster than what Riku thought they would (mostly because the young boy took several bizarre passages where they had to crouch and crawl all the time—and even take elaborate routes through elevators). Riku followed the boy and was surprised when they didn't stop where he thought their destination would be—the Entrance Hall. They passed a few rooms until they arrived to what looked like a throne room; where Maleficent sat in the highest chair.

Without the smallest display of emotion Maleficent told the boy "I hope you didn't drag him here against his will."

The boy just shrugged, Maleficent sighed in annoyance, and turned to Riku. "Riku this is Teddy, he also lives in this castle."

Riku nodded.

Maleficent eyed Teddy as he climbed a high, marvel ornament and sat on it. "Teddy did you tell Jarvia to join us?"

"Yes and she said she didn't care," said Teddy, jumping down from the ornament and doing a couple acrobatics.

Just as Maleficent was about to murmur a reply the doors to Riku's right were slammed open, and a young girl around thirteen stalked inside. "You said I would be your favorite!" The girl pointed a finger at Maleficent accusingly.

"But my dear you all are my favorites," replied Maleficent in a weird, sweet manner.

"No! He will be your favorite," the brunette huffed as she glared at Riku.

"Nonsense," Maleficent waved her off, "Riku this is Jarvia, Jarvia—Riku—Teddy."

"Hurry up I wanna go outside!" Teddy whined as he did a couple of jumps and flips, Jarvia rolled her eyes, and Riku sighed, amused.

"Riku, listen, we're like a family here," Maleficent spread her arms out; Jarvia tapped her foot impatiently; and Riku was beginning to get annoyed at Teddy's continuous jumping. "And we all have different duties and responsibilities. I care for the castle and rule over it; Jarvia protects the castle from invaders; Teddy informs me of the happenings around town and—"

"I'm the delivery boy!" Teddy said quite enthusiastically.

"Yes. And you Riku, you could be my assistant… yes that—"

"See! He's gonna be your favorite now!" Maleficent was interrupted yet again, this time by Jarvia.

"Jarvia." Maleficent gave the girl a menacing glare making her falter and step back, then the witch's expression turned pleasant again—thing that disturbed Riku a little. "I still don't know what you can do so you'll be my assistant until we find a suitable place for you. You will need a weapon."

Riku looked at his bare hands, he had no weapons, and the only fighting experience he had was all the sparing he had done with Sora back in Destiny Islands. "I—" he muttered.

"You worry too much lad. Here," she waved her hand and a dark, short blade appeared in Riku's hands; he took a step back, stunned. "It's called Soul Eater, and holds the power of shadow. Use it as you see fit."

The teen eyed the weapon in his hands. The blade was a dark crimson; one side was bordered by a dull, black outline and the other side held a sharp, deadly blade. This could really kill people—being completely different to the wooden toy swords he used to fight with.

"You are dismissed," Maleficent said lazily, while stroking the dark feathers of her pet crow.

"Finally!" Jarvia exclaimed throwing her hands in the air, and then she stomped her way out of the chapel.

Teddy leapt close to Riku (it seemed that he couldn't withstand the urge to be active) and extended a hand at him saying "Let me see." Riku obliged and gave Soul Eater to the younger boy (but the teen still had the uneasy feeling that Teddy would cut himself with the blade—him being so active). Surprisingly Teddy became still and quiet, but he had an impatient expression, as if he couldn't wait until he was able to jump again. "C'on, hurry up and I'll show you how to use this!" Said the eight year old and Riku shrugged and followed him outside—this would be and interesting beginning of his new life, he finally decided.

_The richness of life lies in the memories we have forgotten._ - Carol Shields

**_To be continued..._**

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**The Making of Retener et Liberare**

Part 1 - Thinking of the Main Plot: A few weeks ago (or even months ago) I was making a fan video about Riku for YouTube so I downloaded a whole bunch of cutscenes from Kingdom Hearts that featured Riku. And to make the fanvid I needed to go through all the cutscenes, so while I was watching everything I felt kinda curious of what had really happened to Riku during Sora's adventure; sure we know what he did and of his short appearances every here and there, but everything was mostly focused on_ Sora, Sora, Sora_. So I headed here to look for any fanfiction regarding Riku's life with Maleficent and all that--just to discover that there are absolutely none (unless I missed a few), so I decided to take the risk of making one. Why is it a risk?--you ask, well because no one makes them, so only a few people are interested about this (it's mostly all the yaoi crap), so I'm taking the risk of my story not being liked and appreciated as it should. But I decided on doing it, and so far I have 5 chapters done (They need revising so they won't be uploaded as soon), and I'm hoping it will be liked.


	2. Realization at The Grey Hound

**Disclaimer:** I **do not** own Kingdom Hearts.

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Chapter #2: Realization at The Grey Hound.

While he was sparing with the younger boy, Riku had mistakenly underestimated him, so he received several cuts, scrapes—and an overall beating—he had no idea Teddy would be so strong. Teddy later explained (with a very smug expression) that he had been living with Maleficent for a year, so he was to be treated like their "older brother". "Then came Jarvia," he had said, "but now she tries to boss me around, I don't let her though, but while you're this weak (he snickered and received a glare from Riku) you better do what she tells you." And after they finished the hyper boy busied himself by jumping around the several statues that were in the training grounds.

From what he could tell, Hollow Bastion Castle was no treat to the eye; all decorations were aged and probably were left to rotten. There was water everywhere giving the impression that it was flooded all the time, but Riku soon came to the conclusion that it was part of the forgotten "decoration." During his first day in the castle Riku had decided to set up (and learn) routes to the necessary places, like the kitchen, the library, Maleficent's Chapel (and he often wondered what was beyond it but didn't dare to enter, fearing the witch's wrath), the Entrance Hall, his bedroom, and the training grounds. And while he explored troublesome thoughts began to erupt in his mind, like what happened to Destiny Islands? To Sora and Kairi? Why did Maleficent had them living with her? She didn't seem like the type of person that would take homeless children under her wing. And why were Teddy and Jarvia so strong?

The questions continued to trouble him and he knew he could only be at peace if he asked someone, but whom? He wanted to know about Maleficent so it would be futile to ask her, she could always mask the truth. I'd be pointless to ask Teddy; Riku had to find the boy first (he always was nowhere to be found) and he doubted Teddy knew anything, he seemed clueless. And asking Jarvia was out of the question, he tried to avoid the girl as much as possible, mostly because of her over reactive temper, and also because he was following Teddy's advice.

While walking idly through a hallway Riku noticed how the lamps that were hung high up in the corner of the ceiling began to glow a dim, sinister green light. He sighed, shoved his hands in his pockets, and ignored it.

From the corner of his eyes he saw someone rushing to get past a hallway perpendicular to his; that someone stopped once they sensed his presence. The person walked toward him and he almost cursed under his breath when the lights in the ceiling illuminated Jarvia's scowling face. So much for trying to avoid her.

"What are you doing?" She asked stopping close to him.

Riku raised an eyebrow, what did she care?

"Well? Are you just going to stand there, doing nothing?" She asked coldly.

"I have nothing else to do," he said shrugging.

Jarvia huffed, "of course you do! Don't you see the lights?" She pointed at the green light in the ceiling.

The silver-head looked at the lamps, then back at her, confusion present in his eyes.

Once the girl realized the dilemma she laughed, loudly, just to anger him. "Those lights are set up all over the castle, when they glow it means that Maleficent is calling us, so you go to the Castle Chapel."

"Oh." Riku said simply, and continued to stare at her.

"Well go!" She barked.

Riku glared at her, decided against murmuring an insult, and paced to the chapel, with Jarvia trailing behind him. For a moment he was grateful that he had taken the time to learn the way to the chapel, so he wouldn't make a fool of himself now. Soon after they arrived to the chapel, Maleficent was sitting in that same, tall throne with an annoyed hint in her eyes. Teddy was also already in the room, sitting on the top of one of the marvel pillars, busily playing with his fingers.

"Sorry we were late Maleficent, but your favorite is as clueless as a bird." Jarvia said spitefully. Riku decided to just glare at her, the degrees of dislike toward her rising by the second.

"I told you, you all are my favorites, I don't want rivalries because of that." Riku found that it was hard to control the urge to roll his eyes; he had no intentions of being her "favorite."

"There is a hefty amount of munny over there," she said pointing at a nearby altar, where three pouches of munny laid. "You may go to town today."

"Yes!" Teddy leapt from the marvel pillar and raced toward the money.

"I hope it's not to celebrate his arrival here," said Jarvia. She, too, went to get one pouch.

The silver-head hesitated for a moment, shrugged, and walked toward the altar. Once they all had their pouches of munny in hand Maleficent began speaking again, "Remember you have to stay together, and don't interact _too_ much with the civilians," she eyed Riku, as if she meant that only to him. He frowned, why not?

"You are dismissed," the witch finally said.

Teddy raced out of the chapel and into the elevators, stopping only to let the older teens catch up. Jarvia seemed enthusiastic too, and Riku decided that it would be nice to go outside and learn more about Hollow Bastion, the castle, and Maleficent; thus completely ignoring Maleficent's orders.

Much of Hollow Bastion was in ruins, so it was a hazardous journey to the heart of the world, where, according to Teddy, was a busy village full of candy shops, toy stores, restaurants, blacksmiths, and street performers. And Jarvia had said that there was an ice cream shop, too, but the ice creams were bland. "It's still ice cream!" Teddy had argued, and Riku couldn't help being silent throughout their trip, for he felt he barely knew his new companions.

It was chilly when they arrived to the outskirts of the village, but the heat of the fireplaces in the different shops made the children forget the cold temperature. When they arrived they decided to split up, and meet back in the entrance of the village before dusk, to return to the castle.

Riku eyed his pouch of munny, thinking of what to do with it first. His attention was first drawn to a narrow pub poised in the middle of two houses—The Grey Hound, it was called—so he entered and inhaled the sweet scent of butterscotch that filled the room; such scents were a relief compared to the metallic, and moldy smell that haunted the castle. He sat on a stool and watched as the bartender rushed to him.

"And whot will ya be havin'?" Asked the bartender giving Riku a toothy grin.

"Some of that," Riku beckoned at a drink another man was having.

"Right away!" The bartender puffed. After a minute he brought Riku the drink, "Here ya 'o" and he left to attend his other customers.

The teen enjoyed this drink he was having, he couldn't name it, because it was nothing he'd ever have before, but enjoyed it nevertheless. Just as he was about to finish his drink a loud plump woman sat next to him, and looked at him with a friendly smile on her lips. "Hiya boy," she finally said.

"Hi," said Riku after taking another sip of his drink.

"New here, huh?"

Riku nodded politely.

"I see… the name's Elda," she pounded her chest and smiled at him. "Ah, you're having the 'Blissful Life,'" she pointed at his drink, "That thing saved my life once."

"Elda! Come to pay yer debts?" The bartender approached her.

"Debt me ass, pour me one like his," she said somewhat harshly (but the bartender didn't bother and busied himself serving the mug) and winked at the teen.

The bartender slammed the hot drink on the table in front of Elda. "So boy, where've ya been stayin'? Ya know I heard they were closin' the shelter," He told them.

Elda wrinkled her nose after sniffling her drink, "Why? Where are them homeless people gonna go now?"

"Ah that's the problem, ya see. I think worlds aren't disappearing no more, people ain't coming to Hollow Bastion as often," said the bartender as he played with his beard.

With one last sip Riku finished his "Blissful Life" and eyed the old man with curiosity, worlds were disappearing? That's something he didn't know. "Worlds are disappearing?"

Now the attention was onto him. Elda was the one that answered, "Why, don't you know? Ain't that why you came here? 'Cause your world disappeared?"

It hit him like icy air blowing through his flesh. He thought quickly and realized that, that was what had happened to Destiny Islands. All the pieces fit together; the storm, the darkness, Sora's terrified expressions, how could he be so clueless? And if the world did disappear where was Sora? And Kairi, and Wakka, and Tidus, and Selphie, and his family? And every other person that lived in the islands? He looked at his hands in shame, during the past few days he had been living in Hollow Bastion never once did he questioned why he had been brought here.

"Oh I'm sorry miboy, it must be tough to just realize it like that."

"What do ya know, ya ol' hag."

"Shut up Brom." She gave "Brom" a menacing glare. "Don't worry Riku, I'm sure you'll find your family and friends soon, just never give up," said she giving the silver-head a soft pat in the shoulder.

Riku nodded and stud up, he gave Brom some munny and departed the pub, intent on finding out what happened to Sora and Kairi. Just as Riku left the pub his sight met with something that ignited a hint of annoyance within him and made him mumble "Bloody girl": Standing a few feet from a merchant's cart was Jarvia, holding a man by the neck and giving everyone the impression that she was in the process of chocking him to death. Despite the man's taller appearance he seemed helpless against her.

"What kind of person do you take me for, huh?" She yelled to his face, tightening her grip on his neck. "I know your prices; do I look like a tourist to you?"

Riku looked around, and when he figured nobody in the crowd had the guts to stop the homicidal teenager he stalked toward her, stud a small distance away from her, and grabbed her small wrist, making sure to squeeze enough pain into her hand for her to let go of the man. "Jarvia. Stop." He whispered darkly.

Jarvia glared at him and with one last squeeze she released her grip on the poor merchant. "What you want me to choke you instead?" Her hand flew to his neck but the silver-head was able to stop her.

"You can't—" Riku was cut short by a thundering noise coming from the town square. The earth shook below them and a chain of panicked screams followed. Riku and Jarvia turned their attention to the source of the ruckus, and their eyes met with a tall, horrid monster that threatened to destroy everything in its path. Riku heard Jarvia chuckle beside him, she withdrew her twin swords and ran toward the monster, to attack. He, too, decided to fight the beast, so he summoned his Soul Eater and ran forward, silently praying that he was capable to fight a monster of such power.

From the corner of his eyes he could see Teddy, already using his rod to fight the malevolent intruder. In his moment of distraction the silver-head was sent flying to the other side of the field, he mumbled a few curses, lifted himself up, and charged toward the monster. Riku jumped to avoid a direct hit from the monster's tail, and while in the air he sliced his Soul Eater through the monster's thick hide. A blood curling screech followed and Riku jumped in time to help Teddy regain his balance before one of the big claws made an impact on the boy.

Above him Jarvia was attacking and dodging the monster's front paws, and he used her diversions to plunge his Soul Eater through the monster's legs. He withdrew his blood-stained sword and countered a hit from its powerful legs.

Maybe Riku was too caught up in his small moment of victory against the monster, or maybe he just wasn't fast enough, but the truth is that he felt one of the deadly spikes that protruded from the monster's tail make contact with his side, cutting its way in and crushing his ribs. He was sent flying and his head made contact with a brick wall. The last thing he remembered was the slight feeling of blood trickling down his head and he fell unconscious, to the darkness that so willingly welcomed him.

_Do what you can, with what you have, where you are._ - Theodore Roosevelt

**_To be continued..._**

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**The Making of Retener et Liberare**

Part 2 - Deciding the Title: Before uploading chapter one I had everything thought up; I had 5 chapters finished, I had a beta reader, I had the knowledge about Kingdom Hears, but I didn't have a title, and trust me--it was hard to come up with one. Titles can be one of the most important things for a new story that nobody knows, it draws part of the attention, right? But I had no decent one. I thought of making the title in Latin, but I know no Latin, not even a tiny bit, and to not make a fool of myself with the Latin-knowing people in the website I thought to make it in Spanish (since I know Spanish). I had decided on Cuento Olvidado which means forgotten story or something to that effect, but then I showed the title to my beta (who also knows Spanish) and he flat out said "it sucks", so I began thinking of another name. After many casualties (and headaches) I searched several Romance Languages and I came up with Retener et Liberare which means retener: hold, remember (Spanish), et: and (French), Liberare: free, let go (Italian). So you can translate Retener et Liberare to Remember and Let Go.

**_R&R_**


	3. Worlds Destroyed

**Disclaimer:** I **do not** own Kingdom Hearts.

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Worlds Destroyed.

The first thing Riku could recognize when he finally regained consciousness was a thick, sour liquid oozing down his throat. Involuntarily, he swallowed the liquid and realized that by doing so his body felt incredibly better. Another spoonful of the same liquid was shoved into his mouth, this time he coughed, but resolved to swallow the liquid again. He breathed heavily and heard voices around him; "Look he's coming back," he heard, then a harsher voice said "Coming back? He wasn't dead, you moron!" And the voices around him began arguing so Riku decided to ignore them.

Riku opened his eyes, but had to close his aquamarine pools as a green light blinded him. He lifted his hand to his face and realized his arm was very stiff. The silver head caressed his temple to lessen the strong headache that troubled his very soul. He opened his eyes, sat up, and watched as the occupants of the room looked at him with a strange mixture of surprise and relief.

"Oh, what did you think you were doing passing out on us?" The brunette asked him accusingly, "You're too much trouble."

"Jarvia leave him alone, will ya?" Teddy told the girl. "Good thing I had just bought an elixir!" Said Teddy quite happily, "But now I regret not buying more than one," he said with a pout.

"You should have let him die in the first place, everyone knows elixirs are too expensive to waste just like that," mocked Jarvia.

Riku had to frown.

He realized he was back in his bedroom, laying on his bed, with Teddy and Jarvia sitting on the foot of the bed, bickering all the while. He looked at his body and saw blood stains all around his clothes, but he knew he wasn't bleeding anymore, mostly because of the elixir he had consumed. Riku remembered the previous fight, and he, very reluctantly, concluded that he was not yet ready to defend himself. He figured that after fainting he was just a bother for the younger kids. A burning feeling within him wished he were stronger, stronger so he could understand everything that was happening around him and so he would be able to defend himself against everything that tried to harm him—from angry Jarvias to murderous monsters.

After a while he could tell the children got bored of being with him. "Come one Teddy, let's leave Her Favorite to himself." Jarvia said with sarcasm. Teddy giggled—amused at the nickname she had given Riku—and followed the brunette outside.

Riku glared at the door after they left, and laid back down in the bed. He felt tired so he decided to rest before going to see Maleficent about all the troublesome thoughts and questions that bothered him every second. It took a while before sleep embraced him in its blissful clutches. But once it did Riku settled into a fitful night; tossing and turning every now and then, accompanied with a troublesome dream about floating islands, a pub filled with many Teddys and Jarvias, and the silent cries of a beautiful red head.

The early bird instinct within him brought him back to consciousness just before dawn. Riku rubbed his sleepy eyes and gazed at the darkness of the room. He suddenly felt dirty—having slept with his bloodied garments—so he jumped out of the bed and readied himself to take a long shower. After he stepped out of the shower he dressed in one of the many leather clothes Maleficent provided for him. Once finished he left his room and headed to the dining hall, where he knew that the other occupants of the castle would be waiting for him to begin with breakfast.

The silver head was surprised to see only Teddy in the table (he was very concentrated on trying to balance a fork on the tip of his index finger so he ignored Riku's presence). Riku sat in the same place as he always did—across from Jarvia's seat and three chairs away from Teddy's—and asked "Where are Maleficent and Jarvia?"

Teddy shrugged and responded "Jarvia was crying about some blood between her pants and Maleficent had to go calm her down."

Riku laughed in genuine amusement. He knew Jarvia wasn't the sensitive type of person so he decided that freaking out would very much suit her when experiencing the first changes of puberty. He decided to not wait for them and began eating his breakfast.

The door to his right was opened and Riku almost choked when he saw Jarvia sniffling and holding back a few tears (such display of emotion was rare in the girl). Besides her walked Maleficent, her lips were pursed together in annoyance. "Hurry, food's getting cold!" Teddy exclaimed; he, too, had begun eating his breakfast without waiting for the other two.

Maleficent and Jarvia sat on their regular places and began eating without a word. When the food was finished Maleficent cleared her throat and began talking once all attention was on her. "Care to explain what happened in the market? I thought I told you not to draw attention to yourselves."

"A heartless attacked the village!" Teddy answered with an unnecessary amount of energy.

"If he hadn't fainted then we wouldn't have drawn so much attention." Jarvia said spitefully, Riku knew she was referring to him.

"Jarvia we've already talked about this. I don't want any conflicts between you," Maleficent told the girl coldly, the hint of a threat escaped her eyes and Jarvia leaned back in the chair, scared. Riku momentarily wondered what had happened between them. "A Heartless? I see, it seems I'll have to take certain measures to keep those from the village," but something told the silver head that her motives weren't just for "protection of the village."

Silence settled in the room and Riku decided this could be his opportunity to talk to Maleficent. "Maleficent, what happened to my hometown?"

The witch gave him an amused, sharp look. "I thought you knew," she finally said.

"I don't know what happened," Riku replied with a cold impassiveness.

"Reasonable. You were brought here just before the disaster happened."

Riku almost choked with his orange juice. "Disaster?" He breathed faintly.

"Yes, follow me." She stood up and told the children to clean the table—receiving complaints and wails in response—and left the dining room with Riku trailing close behind her. They walked to a dark room and he watched as she used her magic to bring a faint, green glow to the engraved center of the room.

"That place where you come from, Destiny Islands, was destroyed after you were swallowed by the darkness," she told him calmly. "You should thank the darkness for saving you from that death hole."

The news welcomed him like icy water. His hands curled into fists until they grew disturbingly pale for the pressure he was issuing into them. Everything had disappeared! His family, friends, that gentle paradise that could always calm him down, everything! And why, oh why did the darkness choose to save him? Out of all people! He looked at her with empty eyes. He didn't deserve to be here, he should have disappeared like the rest of them. And why didn't Maleficent tell him sooner? Was she planning to let him live in obliviousness? With the fake reassurance that he had fulfilled his dream and that life went on in Destiny Islands?

"Oh but don't fret," She told him as she raised his chin with her abnormally long fingers, "You aren't the only one that survived." The witch succeeded in gaining his attention, so she continued "That boy named Sora survived, too, and he's out playing hero around the worlds, now that he's the keyblade master."

"Sora's OK?" He asked incredulously.

"And Kairi, too. But it may be hard to find her; I'm currently working on that." Maleficent said and the green glow in the center of the room intensified. A blurry image of a boy with dark, spiky hair appeared; he seemed to be focused on a conversation with two creatures in royal attires. One looked liked a dog and the other one liked a lot like a duck.

"Sora," Riku murmured and walked closer to the boy's image.

"I can help you find them, if that's what you want," she said with a devilish smirk, "But you'll have to help me find what I'm looking for."

"Fine, I'll do whatever it takes."

"Splendid! First off I want you to find Jarvia and tell her to train you; you'll have to become stronger if you want to find your friends, after all."

Riku nodded; he agreed with her. The silver head loathed the weak state he felt he was in. if he wanted to find Sora and Kairi he needed to be strong enough to protect himself, then he would begin his search for them, and protect them from whatever harm may come in their way, after all he was like a big brother to them; he was not going to let them down.

The teen quickly left to look for Jarvia, intent on making her train him. He decided to just deal with her homicidal temper, if that was what it would take to find his childhood friends then he would just have to deal with is, no turning back now.

---

When Jarvia found out that Riku needed _her_ help, she had taken her time to explain how much she _disliked him_ and how she was _not_ going to teach her _precious_ knowledge of warfare to the likes of him. Simply because "You have no rights to become Maleficent's favorite," she had said and Riku was extremely exasperated at her when she ignored his attempts to explain that he _was not_ interested in becoming Maleficent's "favorite." But it had taken an intervention from the witch to make Jarvia understand that they weren't fooling around; that Riku did need someone to teach him how to successfully fend off any harm.

It was chilly in the training grounds, Riku and Jarvia—who had just finished sparing—were sitting next to each other, and sweating heavily after the exhausting fight. Jarvia was much less exhausted and flushed compared to Riku, but neither of them showed any interest in wanting to stand up and continue sparing; at least not for today.

"Was your world destroyed, too?" Riku asked between heavy pants.

Jarvia looked at him, her eyes dark with sadness and exhaustion. She nodded, but decided not to talk more of the subject by looking away. She held out their first aid kit while saying "Care for your wounds, we will begin again tomorrow at sunrise. I will be extra hard on you if you arrive late."

The silver haired teen did just as she told him, and was surprised when she began talking again. "Teddy and I come from a wealthy land. Had my world not disappeared I would have held the rank of Duchess of Venetia. Teddy was the son of a neighboring Baron, though I never talked to him before coming here." Riku smirked to himself, that's why she was so bossy and impatient; she was used to having everything she desired.

"When the darkness swallowed my world I was sent to a town called Traverse and Teddy ended up here. Teddy and Maleficent found me when they were visiting the town, and the moment Teddy realized we were from the same world he did everything possible to make me join them. I love it here because it reminds me of my old manor."

Riku gazed at the two moons—Fher and Mystic Moon—that lit the darkness of Hollow Bastion, and his eyes trailed to Jarvia's hand, which was pointing up at the same lavender and mahogany moons. "We had two satellites, too. One was named Aqua because it was covered in water, and the other was called Demeter, since the moon greatly influenced harvest season." Then she added quite sourly, "But I never cared, just let the stupid peasants worry about their silly crops." She stud up and, without a second look, strolled back to the castle.

The teen raised an eyebrow at her retreating form and decide he wasn't even going to try to understand her. He shrugged and almost jumped in surprise when a chilly wind circulated around his body. He quickly finished cleaning his mess up and limped his way to the castle, driven to arrive to his bedroom so he could finally call it a day.

_Where friendship is, there is one's homeland._ - Voltaire

**_To be continued..._**

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**The Making of Retener et Liberare**

Part 3 - Jarvia and Teddy: When I was thinking of my plot I realized that the story would be very boring if Maleficent and Riku were the only active characters, so I decided to add other characters. I gave a lot of thought to Jarvia's and Teddy's personalities; Teddy is supposed to be supportive and at the same time be that little boy that requires action and attention--he was inspired by Wrath from Full Metal Alchemist, and I wanted Jarvia to be Teddy's oposite, to be bossy, mean, and short tempered (and I was reminded of Azula from Avatar and myself). Their personalities will be exposed more as chapters pass, and you may realize they are more humane than they appear.


	4. The Beginning of the End

**Disclaimer:** I **do not** own Kingdom Hearts.

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**A/N: **It's been forever, I know, I've just been distracted with other things. But here it is. You know the drill: R&R.

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The Beginning of the End.

For Riku, days seemed to fast forward in the castle. It all became a routine; he would wake up before dawn, dash his way to the training grounds and endure Jarvia's constant excuses to beat him up. Then he'd have to run to the kitchens and invent a complete new meal for every lunch. Right after lunch he'd have to receive a lecture from Jarvia (and sometimes from Maleficent) if any of them got food poisoning because of his lacking cooking skills. And finally, by sunset, he would be too exhausted to do anything else besides collapsing in his four-poster bed and forgetting about all his worries.

He didn't find any peace during his nights, either. The silver-head kept having continuous dreams about the same, crying red-head that roused him from his sleep several times during the night. Tonight was no different.

Riku jerked his head to the side, and with a heavy intake of breath he sharply opened his eyes and sat up in the bed. Beads of sweat rolled from his forehead and trailed down to the valley between his furrowed brows. His pools of aquamarine gazed at the gloomy room, taking him a few seconds for his pupils to adjust to the darkness that engulfed his bedroom. He lifted his hand to his forehead and cleansed himself of the sweat. He soon decided he could no longer remain in the hot room; he needed fresh air.

Riku stepped out of the sticky mattress and walked out of the room. He allowed his feet to wonder aimlessly through the dimly lit hallways, not really caring where he was going. After a couple minutes of fruitlessly walking through the hallways, he stepped into one of the elevators, his eyes staring emptily at the bottomless abyss in front of him. He looked up and saw Fher and Mystic Moon, both silently illuminating the quiet night. It was the witching hour, a time of the night when silence reigned and witches and ghostly spirits came out to their business. The teenager almost smirked, as the thought of him meeting said ghostly beings crossed his mind. His tired eyelids began to drop and he had to make a great effort to maintain awake. Subconsciously, he sat on the floor of the moving elevator, and rested his face on his hands, slowly falling into a light sleep. Soon, he was carried away with the elevator to the deepest and most isolated areas of the castle.

The teen woke with a start when the elevator came to a sudden halt. His confused, sleepy eyes gazed at the hallway before him. With some difficulty, he stood up and walked forward, curious of where he had been taken. He stepped into a dark corridor and summoned an ember of fire in the palm of his hand to illuminate his way around. He took careful steps, for he knew that this area of the castle has not been inhabited for a long time. A fetid, moldy smell filled his nostrils, and he had to restrain the urge to cover them with his hands; this place was dark, cold, and humid. After walking for quite a while he reached a small door covered with dust and cobwebs. Riku used the fire in his hand to burn the cobweb and pushed the door open, and to his dislike, even more cobwebs hung ahead.

After inspecting his surroundings he realized he had entered through the back door of an old, dusty library. Books, artifacts, and gadgets were neatly put away in the shelves, but the silvery mantle of dust still lingered every here and there. As the teen walked around he noticed the absence of dust in some areas, meaning that someone had been using this library lately; although they didn't clean the place thoroughly. He saw an opened book in a nearby table, so he sat and lit the nearest candle. He started inspecting the old book, his tiredness completely forgotten.

The book told many different short stories: he read about a boy that was eaten by a wolf for lying so much. He read about a hard-working pig and his not so hard-working brothers. He read about a little girl with beautiful hair that trespassed into a bear family's house. And as he flipped through the pages he noticed how the villains in the story were mostly wolves and witches, and each single story taught a moral at the end.

The moment he saw the story of Hansel and Gretel he knew it was his favorite; for a reason unknown to him, its theme stuck to him. The story was about a brother and a sister that were abandoned in a forest by their father, due to the lack of food. While lost in the woods they found a house built with candy, in which a malevolent witch lived. She planned to feed them to obesity so she could later devour them. Riku couldn't help but wonder about Maleficent's reasons for having him, Teddy, and Jarvia in her castle. It couldn't only be to give them a home, right? And if her reasons were, indeed, everything but benign, what if the three of them didn't have a happy ending like Hansel and Gretel? The teen just hoped Maleficent wasn't planning on eating them.

His senses jumped in alertness when someone opened the backdoor—the one he'd used to enter the library—and walked inside. Very stealthy, he sprang to his feet and hid behind a nearby bookshelf. He cursed himself when he saw he had forgotten to put out the candle; now whoever came would know someone else was in here. Small footsteps walked closer to the source of light. Riku, then, relaxed when the candle's dim light showered Teddy's youthful features. The young boy tensed at the sight of the lit candle. He withdrew the rod he always carried with him and scanned the library. Riku felt amazed with himself, over the past few weeks his abilities had advanced to such state that Teddy was unable to detect him. The teen cautiously walked out from his hiding place—worried that Teddy would lunge at him in sheer surprise—and smiled sheepishly at the brunette.

Teddy sighed, returned the smile, and asked "How did you find this place?"

Riku just shrugged, "I couldn't sleep, so I wandered around the castle and found myself here."

Teddy looked sadly at the opened book, and then murmured "We're not supposed to be here."

"Why?"

"Maleficent never mentioned this library to any of us, so I'm guessing she didn't want us to know of it. This library has more stuff than the other one, and the books here actually teach things. Everything in the other one is a whole bunch of nonsense," explained Teddy with a simple shrug. He touched the illustration of Hansel and Gretel and said "Do you think she'll eat us?" A sly smile found his lips.

Somehow, Riku wasn't surprised Teddy thought the same thing about Maleficent. "So, why are _you _here?"

The boy smiled, "follow me," he ordered and walked to the other side of the library. They walked towards a different door that led to a vast garden; a garden much more attractive than the main gardens or the training grounds. The night was still dark and moist, and the only light in the garden was the illumination provided by Fher and Mystic Moon.

"Perrie! I'm here!" Teddy yelled into the night, and then came running a slender bloodhound from behind nearby bushes. The dog leapt at Teddy; he was welcomed with an equally energetic hug. They jumped, kissed each other, and made a considerable amount of noise, disrupting the peaceful night.

"This is Perrie," said Teddy as he played with the animal. "I found him here once and we've been friends since, no one knows about this except for me and you." Then he asked cautiously: "you're gonna keep the secret right?"

Riku nodded and took a few steps back when the dog made to approach him; he was in no mood to get dog saliva all over himself, like Teddy had. Seeing how Riku made no attempts to socialize with it, the dog turned his attention back to Teddy, and both forgot about the teen in their restless games. This was how his tiredness crept back into him. Riku lay down on the soft grass and, with sleepy eyes, gazed up at the starless sky. He closed his eyes and put one hand over his forehead, and it wasn't long till he lost consciousness.

Birds, many birds—he decided—were singing their soft melodies to him. Perhaps not to _him_, he thought, but it was nice nevertheless. But wait a minute—birds only come out after dawn, which means that it was way past sunrise! Riku sat up abruptly, but paused as dark spots blurred his sight. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the potent light and realized that, judging from the sun, it was between nine or ten in the morning. He cursed under his breath—Jarvia would be furious.

He stood up and dashed back to the library, regretting that he had no time to enjoy the beautiful garden that he was leaving behind. He stepped onto the elevators, activating it, but he soon realized he had no idea how to get back. Should he just stay in the elevator, and wait till it came to a stop? No, the elevators in this castle never stopped moving unless someone summoned them; it would keep taking him in circles and leading him back to this same library. There was no way he could remember for how long he traveled last night, back then he was too tired to even care.

Ha jabbed at the buttons in the control panel and waited until the elevator halted in one of the stops. He jumped out and decided to take the stairs down; those had to lead him to the Entrance Hall, right?

After what seemed like an odyssey he finally ended up in the main library. Panting, he gazed at the grandfather clock to his left and saw that it read ten minutes to one o'clock in the afternoon, he cursed; being lost in this castle was not fun at all. His stomach growled, so he headed to the dining hall, hoping they had spared him some food.

When he arrived Maleficent was the only one present in the room. "The children have been looking for you," she said as she put her silverware down by her dish.

Riku cleared his throat, "I, uh, got lost."

The witch raised an eyebrow. "Lost? You've been here for almost four weeks, anyone would expect you to know your way around," Maleficent replied coldly.

"I was in a place I've never been to before," said Riku after he sat down, in the same seat as always.

"Really?" Maleficent waited until he nodded to speak again, "please do tell." She seemed interested now.

Riku held his breath, thinking of what to respond. Thankfully someone slammed the doors open and two noisy children walked inside.

"Maleficent we couldn't—why you slippery, little cockroach! There you are!" Jarvia yelled once she realized Riku didn't need to be find, after all.

"Jarvia do me a favor and shut your mouth, OK? I know I was late, no need to state the obvious." Riku responded in the same condescending way he learned from her.

Teddy let out a long whistle and tried to suppress a fit of giggles, but failed horribly.

Jarvia's eyes widened as if Riku had committed an atrocity. "Did you see that? Did you see how your favorite spoke to me?" she asked Maleficent, she then turned to Teddy. "And you quit laughing, you little fart," she commanded him and kicked him in the knee.

"Hey!" Teddy limped away from her.

"Well that's how you treat everyone, what did you expect? Someone had to fire back eventually," Maleficent responded in a calm manner, taking a sip of her wine. "Riku eat what's left for you, and as punishment for making us wait you'll have to clean all the dishes, and the kitchen, _by yourself_."

Riku nodded—his glare on Jarvia never faltering. He was left alone to finish his lunch, and his mood bickered in sheer annoyance for having to clean up the mess that had become of the dining table. Reluctantly, he took several plates in his hands and headed to the kitchen, decided on quickly finishing the task at hand.

Night eventually came, and morning right after. Riku rose as usual before sunrise and readied himself for the upcoming training session. Although this time he prepared himself to receive Jarvia's, expected, psychological taunts for being absent the previous day and for smarting back at her in the dining hall. The silver-head strolled his way to the training grounds and was pleased to see that he had arrived before the "duchess."

His acute ears perked up in alertness when he heard something moving slightly behind him; he soon realized it was Jarvia. He analyzed his options and quickly made a decision. With a swift motion he had Soul Eater in hand, he turned around and raised the weapon just as Jarvia's twin swords slashed down at him. The weapons clashed, sparks ignited by the friction, and Riku shoved his blade forward. He managed to catch Jarvia off balance and sent her flying to the opposite side of the field.

Using inhuman speed he jumped toward her and gently pressed his blade against the base of her neck; he'd won.

The teen heard distant clapping from behind him, he eased his offensive position (letting Jarvia crawl to her feet) and turned around. It was Maleficent, standing at the foot of the castle doors. "Bravo, splendid display of skill from both of you," said the woman as she walked forward.

Riku heard Jarvia hiss in response and decided it would be wise to step away from her.

"Jarvia you did a marvelous job teaching Riku how to fight, but now your job is done here, dear."

"Bullshit! I was going easy on him, that's all," Jarvia retorted quickly.

Riku faced her and replied spitefully "No you weren't. You were planning on sneaking up on me so you could have your way for what happened yesterday."

The girl just glared at him.

"Well I suppose all three of you are ready to move to the next step." Maleficent added nonchalantly.

Riku couldn't stop from blurting out his question "I can start looking for my friends?"

Maleficent nodded, but she said no more. She turned on her heel and left the teens by themselves, each questioning what this "next step" was all about.

"_Growth is exciting; growth is alarming. Growth of the soul, growth of the mind_" - Vita Sackville-West.

_**To be continued…**_

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**The Making of ****Retener et Liberare**

Part 4 – Writing it: Many people often ask me, "Why do you take so _damn_ long?" I wouldn't really know how to answer that, since there are many factors in my life and interests. But I, myself, know one of the reasons why I forget to update stories so often: I write chapters down in a notebook, and they're left forgotten for a _long_ while. Like this chapter, for instance, I had it done a long long long time ago, but I was just plain lazy to type it, revise it, and upload it. I do this with a lot of stories, unfortunately.


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